Week Two - 10 Adjustments to Living the Greek Life

10. The earliest schedule class at school is 11am while "night life" activities last until 4 and 5 am. Apparently. I have an easy enough time "coping" with the late morning start piece of this, but have still only managed to stay out until about 2am. (I blame it all on the jet lag...right?)

9. Our college is at the cutting edge of technology with its wireless internet connection. Our studio has two jacks for the LAN connection, but only one of them works - the network couldn't handle it if we both plugged in.

8. Dinner time is not until 9 or so. I know this sounds like a regular meal time for our family vacations, but our late night meals don't usually last until midnight or so like the Greeks' do.

7. Smiling at strangers who you pass on the street, meet eyes with at a restaurant, or who tries to converse with you in Greek is not the norm. In fact, doing so to elders may be seen as disrespectful and doing so to peers may be mistaken as an invitation...

6. The equivalent of about 30-40 degrees Fahrenheit is characterized as "polar" and "arctic." Those who brave the insufferable "winter" weather do so with knee-length coats, gloves, and heavy scarves. I hope that no Greek ever has to suffer the weather to see polar bears or penguins in their natural habitat - they would have no words to describe the severity of the weather!

5. Despite the current "arctic" weather conditions, the preferred form of caffeine intake for most Greeks is a "frappe" a whipped, iced coffee. Go figure.

4. When you are unable to communicate verbally with someone, you resort to hand gestures, right? An open hand up, palm facing away from you indicates anything from stop to no, thank you to enough to I'm not interested or even asking for a high five - depending on the context. In Greece, this gesture, while moving your hand forward is a grave insult. Try silently ordering food without lifting your hand - I dare you!

3. Smoking is everywhere. Despite a current ban on smoking in taxis and an upcoming ban on smoking in all public places (set for June or July this year) - Greeks show no signs of discontinuing this practice. This may not be so weird for many of you, but after living in Boston for a few years, it's all Greek to me :)

2. This is a bigger city with less homeless people than Boston. They must've got something right. On this vein, restaurant owners openly allow some less fortunate people to walk into their establishments to sell flowers, cds, or play a bit of music for spare change.

1. Different alphabet where H, n, Y and u all make "i" sounds and v sounds like "n."

0. Don't flush your toilet paper. Apparently the pipe systems are too narrow to handle this.

(Okay - so it turned out to be 11 adjustments to live the Greek life. Whoops!)

Photos of the week:

Valentines Treats!
































Umbrella sculpture by the water front. No, I don't know why.

















Sunday Stroll.












PS - Charlie, I know what you're thinking - Where are the FOOD pictures?! I'm working on it, I promise. Only problem is that anytime we eat out, the food looks and smells sooooo good that no matter my resolutions before hand to be sure to take pictures of it, I'm always elbow deep in tzatziki and before I even think about pictures! I still have a few months to get better at this, though! :)